The Lost Pandas fell apart in 1984 when guitarist Michael Duane (later of dustDevils) was sacked, and Panda's drummer Jaz Rigby followed in protest. Gedge and the Pandas' bass player, Keith Gregory, decided to continue the band, renaming it The Wedding Present.
Gedge wanted to use the name "The Wedding Present" in honour of one of his favourite bands,The Birthday Party.
Gedge and Gregory recruited an old schoolmate of Gedge's, Peter Solowka, to play guitar and auditioned a string of drummers, including Mike Bedford, with whom they recorded a demo tape, before settling on Shaun Charman. The country's clubs and bars were toured as the band prepared for the recording of their first, self-financed single.
After some consideration, "Go Out and Get 'Em, Boy!" was chosen over early favourite "Will You Be Up There?". The A-side features drumming by hired hand Julian Sowa with Charman on its B-side. The single was released on the band's own Reception Records label with distribution through Red Rhino. Although Reception was only intended to be a vehicle for the release of their own material, it also released a number of singles by This Poison! and Cud.
Two more singles followed that did well on the independent charts and the band was spotted by veteran BBC radio DJ John Peel, who immediately started championing them and invited them to do a radio session, starting a long collaboration.
By the time the band started work on their debut album, a number of independent and major record companies showed interest, but the band declined all offers and decided to keep releasing their material themselves. The album was released in 1987 and titled George Best after the well-known Northern Irish football player. Disagreement on production values with the record's producer, Chris Allison, led to the product being remixed by the band and their engineer, Steve Lyon. The larger part of these conflicts seemed to lie with the personal and musical incompatibility of Allison and Charman.
Upon its release, the album was critically acclaimed and the band were soon lumped in with some of their peers as the 'shambling' or C86 scene, a categorization that they vehemently declined (although they were featured on the original C86 compilation). Musically, the album featured fast-paced rhythm guitar attacks; lyrically, apart from a few tentative excursions into social critique ("All This and More") and politics ("All About Eve"), Gedge's main concerns (which would become his trademark) were love, lust, heartbreak and revenge. Soon after the release of George Best, the early singles and radio sessions were compiled and released as Tommy (1985-1987).
With the departure of Charman very early on in 1988, Simon Smith took up the drum stool and follow up album, 1989's Bizarro was again popular with the music weeklies.
When Solowka, who has Ukrainian roots, started fooling around with a Ukrainian folk tune during one of their many Peel sessions, the idea arose to devote some of their radio time to recording their versions of Ukrainian and Russian folk song, encouraged by Peel. To this end, two guest musicians were invited, singer/violin player Len Liggins and mandolin player Roman Remeynes, and three Peel sessions were recorded with Gedge temporarily limiting himself to playing rhythm guitar and arranging the songs.
The band planned on releasing eight cuts from the Ukrainian sessions on a 10" LP and an initial batch was pressed when Red Rhino went into receivership. Rather than trying to find a new distribution company, the band decided to fold their Reception label altogether and sign with a regular record company: RCA. Solowka, Liggins, and Remeynes later split from the band to concentrate on the Ukrainian material as the band The Ukrainians.
Seamonsters is the third studio album by English rock band The Wedding Present. It was recorded in ten days in 1991 by American producer Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Albini had previously recorded two EPs with the group, Brassneck and 3 Songs and, like those records, Seamonsters has a rougher, harsher overall sound than the group's earlier two albums.
Solowka was replaced by Paul Dorrington and the band in 1992 released a single every month, and each of these songs charted before being released as compilations of both the A and B-sides. Each of these 12 singles hit the UK Top 40 and the band tied Elvis Presley's record of most Top 40 singles in the span of a year.
Following a quiet 1993 in which Gregory left and was replaced by Darren Belk, they followed up their record-breaking 1992 year with a new LP in 1994 called "Watusi". Following this, Dorrington left, Belk moved to guitar and they temporarily became a 3-piece before Jayne Lockey arrived. A mini LP, helpfully called "Mini" drove up early '96 shortly before "Saturnalia" zoomed in Summer '96 (along with the addition of new guitarist Simon Cleave after Belk's depature).
Following a gig in January 1997, Gedge decided to rest the Wedding Present name and started performing as Cinerama however while recording a new Cinerama album in 2004 he decided to resurrect the name the Wedding Present.
The first Wedding Present single in 7 years was released in November 2004 followed by an album in February 2005. This line-up was Gedge, Cleave, bassist Terry de Castro and drummer Kari Paavola. Paavola declined to tour and subsequently left replaced by Simon Pearson and then Graeme Ramsey. Simon Cleave left early 2006 but rejoined in 2009. His 3 year void was filled by guitarist Christopher McConville.
In more musical chairs, guitarist Cleave departed again later in 2009 due to ill health. The vacant guitar position was actually snabbed by the drummer, Ramsay, who was replaced on the drum stool by Charlie Layton (who had previously served for a very short time in 2006). Following this in Summer 2010, long-serving bassist, Terry de Castro, also vacated to be replaced by Pepe le Moko. A year later, in late 2011, after the recording of the band's 8th studio album, Valentina, Ramsay departed to be replaced by (ex-The Young Playthings and The Pipettes), Patrick Alexander.
The band emerged in February 2013 with yet another new line-up after the sacking of le Moko and Alexander - bassist Jen Schwartz (from Me of a Kind) and guitarist Geoff Maddock (from Goldenhorse).
For more information please visit www.scopitones.co.uk
So Long Baby
The Wedding Present Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Well are you still there?
Well tell me now, who did you think it would be?
Oh, why do I care?
I'm just kidding myself
Stop trying to be kind
Well you really thought it was somebody else
I got it all wrong, maybe
But I'm saying "so long", baby!
Aside from all that I still think you're dreamy
You'll say you'll try harder
We both know you won't
But where are you at girl, why won't you see me?
Maybe you love me
And maybe you don't
I don't want to fight
But we've got things to discuss
Like why you don't come home every night
And what about us?
You're not going to win
I know you too well
You've already been to bed with him
Oh I can just tell
I got it all wrong, maybe
But I'm saying "so long", baby!
Aside from all that I still think you're dreamy
You'll say you'll try harder
We both know you won't
But where are you at girl, why won't you see me
Maybe you love me
And maybe you don't
The Wedding Present's song "So Long Baby" is a song about a failed relationship. The singer is trying to come to terms with the end of his relationship and is reflecting on the state of things that led to the break-up. He opens the song with "No, this is me!" which suggests that he had been expecting someone else, and the person on the other end is someone he has presumably broken up with or who has disappeared from his life without adequate explanation. He is frustrated that he is still in a state of confusion and still cares about a person who has been nothing but hurtful to him.
He then goes on to say that he is just kidding himself and should not try to be kind. He continues to explain that he believed it was somebody else on the other end of the phone, but it turns out it was the person he has been trying to avoid. The singer reveals that he had been hoping for a positive turn-around in the relationship, but the other person wasn't interested in making any changes. He contemplates the possibility that he's wrong about the relationship and decides to end it "So Long Baby."
In the second verse, the singer addresses his lover, saying that he still finds her attractive and describing her as dreamy. He then tries to confront her and work things out, but she doesn't seem to be interested in reconciliation. The singer then goes on to ask why she isn't coming home every night and what's going on between them. He knows that she has been cheating on him and has already slept with someone else. The singer chooses to end the relationship because he knows that he cannot win her over and that it's not worth his effort.
Line by Line Meaning
No, this is me!
The singer is asserting their identity and presence in the situation.
Well are you still there?
The singer is asking if the other person is still present and engaged in the conversation.
Well tell me now, who did you think it would be?
The singer is asking the other person who they were expecting to talk to, as if trying to gauge the other person's feelings about speaking with them.
Oh, why do I care?
The artist is expressing apathy about the other person's expectations or feelings towards them.
I'm just kidding myself
The artist knows that they are deceiving themselves and not seeing the situation clearly.
Stop trying to be kind
The singer is telling the other person to stop pretending to be kind or caring about them.
Well you really thought it was somebody else
The singer is accusing the other person of believing they were someone else who was not the singer.
Oh never mind
The artist is dismissing the previous accusation and possibly indicating it was not an important issue.
I got it all wrong, maybe
The artist is admitting they may have misunderstood the situation or the other person's actions.
But I'm saying "so long", baby!
The artist is announcing their departure and the end of the relationship or interaction with the other person.
Aside from all that I still think you're dreamy
The singer is acknowledging their attraction to the other person despite the issues in their relationship.
You'll say you'll try harder
The artist is predicting that the other person will promise to improve their behavior or fix the relationship.
We both know you won't
The singer doubts the other person's ability or willingness to actually make changes or improvements.
But where are you at girl, why won't you see me?
The singer is asking why the other person is not making an effort to be with them or showing interest in the relationship.
Maybe you love me
The singer is acknowledging that the other person may still have feelings for them, despite the issues in their relationship.
And maybe you don't
The artist is acknowledging that the other person may not have any feelings for them, despite the history of their relationship.
I don't want to fight
The artist is expressing a desire to avoid conflict or argument with the other person.
But we've got things to discuss
The singer acknowledges that there are important issues in their relationship that need to be addressed and talked about.
Like why you don't come home every night
The singer is questioning the other person's behavior or actions, specifically their absence from home or the relationship every night.
And what about us?
The artist is trying to emphasize the importance of the relationship and the need for the other person to consider their actions and behavior towards them.
You're not going to win
The artist is warning the other person that they will not succeed in their actions or behavior towards them.
I know you too well
The artist is confident in their understanding of the other person and their past behavior.
You've already been to bed with him
The singer is accusing the other person of being unfaithful or engaging in sexual activity with someone else.
Oh I can just tell
The artist is indicating that they have some evidence or intuition that supports their accusation of infidelity.
Contributed by Camilla E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.